The OpenLedger exchange was launched in October of last year in tandem with the BitShares 2.0 network, which sports 3-second block times (Bitcoin has a 10-minute block time) and the ability to handle 100,000 transactions per second - that is more than what VISA and MasterCard can handle put together.

Prior to the OpenLedger integration, the majority of Gridcoin trading took place on centralized exchanges like Poloniex & Bittrex, where the only available pair for traders was GRC/BTC. However, GRC’s inclusion into the OpenLedger family of digital assets will pit the innovative currency against the BitShares (BTS) token itself, as well as other digital currencies and market-pegged assets like the bitUSD & bitCNY.

Gridcoin trades on OpenLedger under the OPEN.GRC ticker. At press time, the only pair that has any liquidity would be OPEN.GRC/BTS:

Unlike centralized exchanges that run the risk of hacking, the entire OpenLedger trading infrastructure sits on top of the BitShares blockchain, therefore, trades are executed in a P2P fashion where the private keys - the codes needed to move funds - of each participant are not exposed to third parties. The OpenLedger platform also offer anonymous trading and allows investors to share in the profit of the exchange via tokens called Obits

The Gridcoin virtual currency came into existence in 2013, but despite three years or rapid growth, a smartphone GRC wallet hasn’t been developed yet. However, Gridcoin users may now carry and access GRC balances on their smartphones by using the BitShares online wallet, which interfaces with OpenLedger.